LONG BEACH GROWS™ (www.longbeachgrows.org) is Long Beach's original urban agriculture resource hub for >4 years, since 2010.
LONG BEACH GROWS' mission is to promote green, healthy, environmentally sustainable urban agriculture in Long Beach, California, & other activities that educate, enhance, & grow our communities by ensuring & safeguarding local food security.
Our vision is a city that feeds itself.

Friday, April 27, 2012

Seed starting workshop by Long Beach Grows at Center Space

Center Space Long Beach in Admiral Kidd Park is back again this Saturday April 28 after its successful debut last weekend. Tomorrow’s free Growth & Learning Space activities include an 11 A.M. workshop on seed starting offered by Long Beach Grows, a local organization that promotes food security through urban agriculture. Steve Passmore, the Farm Coordinator of LBGROWS Unity Farm, will be the instructor.

The best food that you know and can trust is home grown or grown by you in one of our Long Beach community gardens. Long Beach Grows’ seed starting workshop will help you get started.

Starting your vegetable garden from seed is much more economical than buying plants from a retail store. In addition, you get to choose the exact varieties of zucchini or other vegetables to grow, compared to the small selection that is available at even the most well stocked of garden centers.

Steve will talk about preferred sources and the different types of seed, including heirloom seed, genetically modified or GMO seed, open-pollinated seed, F1 hybrid seed, and which of these are compatible with sustainable organic gardening.

The discussion will cover the advantages and disadvantages of direct seeding compared to preparing sets that will need to be transplanted, and the utility of greenhouses.

Your choice of seed depends on the season and where you live. Steve will discuss which plants are appropriate to grow now in Long Beach given our temperate climate. Considerations to be covered include the effects of temperature on germination and on time of emergence.

Workshop participants will go home with a souvenir, seeds they have sown for their home gardens.

Other Center Space activities this Saturday include a 1 P.M. workshop on preparing for green career opportunities with Stella Ursua. The seed starting workshop and the green careers workshop will be held beneath the trees on the north side of the Boys and Girls Club building.

Thursday, April 19, 2012

The Growing Experience is to hold it’s third annual Earth Day celebration next Thursday, April 26 from 3:00-6:00 pm in North Long Beach, 750 Via Carmelitos. The event is free and open to the public.

This ~ 7 acre farm located in the Carmelitos Housing Development boasts a wide variety of naturally grown heirloom vegetables all year long. In addition, over 200 fruit trees offer fresh figs, peaches, nectarines, plums, apples, and citrus.

The local farm fresh produce and fruit can be purchased through the Growing Experience’s Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program via a weekly, bi-weekly, monthly subscription that costs $17 per week. This is one of the few true local CSA’s currently selling produce actually grown on site in Long Beach. The only drawback is that the CSA boxes are not delivered to your home, instead you must pick them up at the farm.

This Earth Day celebration will give you the opportunity to tour the farm, taste the harvest, and learn about sustainable urban agriculture. The Growing Experience has recently ventured into aquaponics to grow tilapia and edible aquatic crops, also to be demonstrated at the event. Arts activities will keep the kids entertained.

Jimmy Ng, the urban farmer and director of The Growing Experience was recently interviewed for Bryant Terry’s online show with international reach, Urban Organic. Watch the interview here

More Information

The Growing Experience is a project of the Housing Authority of the County of Los Angeles. For more information, contact: